Vegitative State
by Writer With Sprite
Summary: "He knew what he was doing, Don." Drabble, complete.


Summary: _He knew what he was doing, Don._

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Senior Agent In Charge of the Violent Crimes Squad Don Eppes stared at the window, facing the still form in the bed. He couldn't go in just yet. Well, technically, he could. He had the doctor's say-so and okay to go in.

It was just that he wasn't ready too, emotionally, yet.

Ian Edgerton joined him, sipping at a cup of coffee before offering him another one that he held in his hands. Don accepted the Coffee God gratefully and took a sip. "I can't believe I let him do that," Don muttered with a shake of his head.

"Let him do what – go out on a limb, follow up a lead, and almost get himself killed?" Ian asked. Don could hear the smirk in his voice.

"It's not your team," Don said, turning around and facing the agent. Neither one was really more senior or less senior; they had both about the same amount of experience in different areas. "It's not the same."

"I never said it was the same, Don," Ian said quietly. "And I know it's not my team, but do you think that means I don't care about them less than you do? You're forgetting that I'm the other half of the reason why Colby Granger is in that hospital bed."

Don turned back to the window, watching Colby's chest rise and fall.

"_Come on, Don. I promise you, I'll let you know the second anything goes down, alright? Nothing's going to happen. He wants to meet me at a crowded bar, dude. That bar is one of the most crowded bars in the area. You really think he's going to get away with attacking_ me there?"

He shouldn't have listened to Colby, but he'd been too busy making sure to get the people who'd attacked Charlie's campus to think rationally… and yet, he had thought rationally, he knew that.

Colby had gone to interview with the suspect, who hadn't turned himself in. Instead, he'd taken Colby on a joyride that had lasted halfway across the state of California. Only Colby's luck had landed him alive in that hospital bed. That, and one of Charlie's algorithms, as well as a homeless man who'd been willing to report the beating of a federal agent.

"He knew what he was doing," Ian said simply. He threw his empty coffee cup in the trash. "I'll see you later. I'll be back in the bullpen, Nikki said she wanted to see me."

"I thought you were going to visit Granger?" Don asked.

"Already did. Not going to do much good until he wakes up; I don't do so good with the vegetative state."

_He knew what he was doing, Don._

With that, Don slipped into the hospital room. The doctor had said Colby would wake up anytime now. Taking a deep breath, he grimaced as he sat down in the hospital chair. On one hand, Ian had a point; nobody could do Colby much good here until he woke up; but on another hand…

Don needed to assure himself that his youngest agent was alive right now, and hadn't died trying to save his younger brother.

"_We all make sacrifices, Donny," _Alan had said when he'd told his father about Colby's decision. That conversation had ended when Don had gotten a call back to the FBI, and they hadn't had an opportune time to finish it. They would, later, though; Don would make sure of it.

Colby's eyes opened slowly, and it was a minute before Don caught the motion. Setting his coffee down, he stood up and made his way towards the bed. "Hey," he said. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I got hit by a car," Colby responded. Don reached over and pressed the nurse call button, signaling the nurses that Colby was awake. "What happened? The last thing I remembered was that knife being held to my neck."

"You got shoved down, and pushed in front of a car." Don's face remained passive. "I'm sorry we didn't figure out your clues a little bit sooner."

"Yeah, I guess I should have made them a little bit less cryptic." Colby looked at Don's face, and noticed the guilt that was etched along the fabric lines of Don's face. Lines most wouldn't know unless they were well aware of Don.

"I knew what I was doing, Don. And I would do it again, anytime."

That was all that needed to be said.


End file.
